Reds not really military - BBC?
 

“However, it is likely groups such as the RAF's Red Arrows will be permitted as they are less obviously linked to the military.”

Formula 1 bans military air displays at Grands Prix https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60082961

There is a big difference between a formation of Eurofighters going over and a dedicated display team.

Seemingly on "sustainability and environmental grounds". Also reported here.

Perhaps reducing the number of races in a season to a more sensible figure would be a better means of reducing emissions when you take into consideration the amount of travel to/from a grand prix there is (air freight, sea freight, road freight, team member transport, fans travelling etc).

^ this. I wonder how the environmental impact of one display stacks up against the helicopter traffic, given the British Grand Prix generates enough of the latter to warrant its own 3-day RA(T).

Well in my case any air display at grand pricks does not warrent my time. I record the highlight show only to watch the ensuing chaos. If I want a air show I go to my local GA airport and watch a few landings and take off's till the McDonalds run out.

Are you saying that GA aircraft run on McDonalds?

To be fair they fly a lot lower than some of the shows of peace the RAF gave us in Helmand :)

Given the rational is supposed to be based one "sustainability and environmental grounds", what difference does military make? All air displays would have to be banned - even the common sight of a big Boeing or Airbus from a main sponsor airline.

All this talk of sustainability surrounding F1 is utter nonsense.

They might well use (very expensive) "sustainable" fuel in their cars but they still trawl round the world in chartered freight and pax aircraft with hundreds of trucks and motorhomes and the big names don't seem too worried about chartering private jets either.

Looks like the Red Arrows can appear at Silverstone, but no word about the Patrouille de France or Frecce Tricolori at the French or Italians races respectively.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-ar...verstone-2022/

The Reds are not military? that’s why they have Royal Air Force proudly blazoned down the side and the pilots are carefully selected from front line fighter squadrons!!

SKOJB,

Media interpretation and knowledge of things is always found wanting, such as the use of an image of a Tornado prototype to accompany a story about Typhoons intercepting Russians.

Having a read a few separate news articles on the subject, there don't appear to be any that say the Red Arrows are not military, just that "as they are less obviously linked to the military".

Indeed, the suggestion for the ruling is that F1 are keen to avoid countries using grand prix as a showcase for their military muscle-flexing / willy-waving.

Exactly. In the eyes of the British public they're more of a national ambassador / pride thing (a bit like Britannia, which I believe was manned by the RN). Furthermore they're not painted green/grey, and not really representative of any of our active military assets. I imagine their French and Italian counterparts will stay in, for the same reason.

If the Hawk Mk1 is to go in a couple of months, could the Reds ones go on the civvy register and still be flown by RAF?

RAFAT will continue using Hawk T.1's up to 2030 and possibly beyond, it is only the "Black" fleet being withdrawn.

Since the RAF seem to want to contract most services out to industry, perhaps they could transfer the Reds to 2Excel. They could operate them alongside the "Blades" as "The Turbine Blades"

At what point do they become an Historic Flight?

Now here's an idea--if a obviously "military" flyover is too much, and F1 really wants to save fuel, how about fly over the chartered freighters instead? They're probably parked at an airfield nearby for the weekend, so no need to burn fuel on a ferry flight. A couple 747s in loose formation at low altitude* would be sufficiently impressive, at least to me.

*Yes I know it's a bad idea from an aviation safety perspective.

Back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests you can run a 747 for about 30 mins (or two 747s for about 15 minutes) on the fuel required to fill 9 Hawks.